Troubled Spirits
by collinphillips
Summary: [chapter 2 OUT NOW] Taking place after the Season 4 finale. Korra and Asami take a vacation in the spirit world, but adventure just does not leave. In order to save a village of Fox Spirits, Korra work together with the renowned Avatar Kyoshi. Meanwhile, Asami encounters someone she thought long lost.
1. Chapter 1

"Mmmm" Korra moaned in delight as the gentle hand like branches of a sentient spirit tree was moving up and down Korra's back, relieving her of stress, unwinding those tough muscles and smoothening the flow of chi coursing through her body which laid at rest on top of a spirit vine. "These spirits sure know how to give a proper back massage", said Asami.

After everything that had happened in Republic City the past week, a retreat to the spirit world was just everything that Korra had needed, aside from Asami that is. It's been three days since they left for the spirit world, and Korra still constantly worries about what's happening in the wake of Kuvira's attack, but the thought of her capable friends always allowed her mind some ease.

However, despite the wonderful vacation they both had, the memory of Hiroshi Sato's passing still lingered in Asami's memory, and no amount of spirit back rubs, vine surfing, or waterfall diving could make her forget about it for even a minute. Still, she was at a beautiful place she never thought she'd visit, and the company wasn't bad either.

Amidst Korra's slumber like trance, she felt a jolt. Her eyes opened wide, and she got up, scaring away the spirits around her. "What is it?" Asami asked.

"Someone's trying to contact me through the spirit vines"

Above her, a blue light flickered and Jinora appeared. "Korra!" she said, "there you are, I've been looking all over for you"

"Hey Jinora, what's wrong did something happen?"

"No, everything's fine. Daddy just wanted to see if you two were alright, and he wanted me to tell you something"

"What is it?" Korra asked.

"He told me that while you're here, he thinks it would be the best opportunity for you to reconnect with the past avatars" Korra became confused "Past avatars? you mean like Aang ?" Jinora gave her a nod. "But I thought they disappeared after that fight with Vaatu?" saying this brought back the memory of one of her biggest failures, and although she is way over it, it still managed to make her expression grim. "Vaatu's attack only severed the connection between you and your past lives, but dad still believes that they're just moving around he spirit world, and if you find them you can reconnect with them once more" she clarified.

Korra did like the idea of Aang being around again, she thought maybe with him by her side, she wouldn't mess things up as much. "Well, how do I even find them?" she asked.

"Just clear your mind, and focus on that residual bond you still have with them, then you'll be able feel their presence"

Korra smirked, "Of course, Tenzin's solution for everything; meditating. Thanks Jinora, tell Tenzin I'm alright"

Jinora waved goodbye and her spirit vanished. This was not how Korra wanted her break to be, and she definitely didn't want to leave Asami alone. She knew how she'd been feeling after her father's death, and she meant this trip to the spirit world to be for her, and it just felt wrong to drag her to another adventure, she needed to relax as much as she did.

She walked back over to where she left Asami. She saw her coming over and knew exactly what was going on. "Why do I get the feeling you're not gonna stay long" she said softly. "I'm sorry, there's something I need to do" Korra replied. "I understand" Asami tried her best to sound all right with the idea of Korra going on another adventure, even though she really wanted them to be stay in the same place, enjoying whatever distractions the spirt world held,together.

Korra leaned in closer to Asami, and placed her hands on her shoulders reassuringly, "I'll be back soon, I promise"

She turned around, and bended the air around her, propelling herself all the way to the top of the spirit tree. Asami watched as the air currents allowed her to soar gracefully up into the sky, while the winds continuously blew on her hair, stopping only once Korra had landed. Asami watched her go all the way up until she could no longer be seen. "Please be safe" she whispered under her breath, but this was Korra she was talking about, of course she'd be alright.

Asami made her way back to the grove where both women used as their temporary residence in the spirit world. Along the path she became suspicious of the silence, usually spirits were running wild, but this time there was a sudden lack of anything that moved. She also noticed that some of the spirit mushrooms which lit up the path had ceased to glow. One by one the light they held died, until everything became swept up in an eery darkness. "Hello?" she called out. Her words lingered, it had seemed that the entire area had became totally devoid of spirits. Asami felt herself tense up. She was warned that change was a more constant force here than in the physical world, the most pleasant sceneries could turn into a horrific landscape at a glance. Asami felt totally naked and unguarded without the avatar's protection, she didn't even bring any of her gear with her.

A faint blue light appeared from behind, as she turned back and saw it, the light grew brighter and brighter illuminating the path. The formless glow began to take a human shape. Asami held up her arms up defense, although she doubted whether she could even hit an incorporeal spirit. The shape gain more form eventually resembling the face of her mother. "Mom?" she asked "is that you?"

It's been so long, she thought. The spirit held out her hand, and Asami grabbed it tightly, tears rolling down her face. "It's going to be okay", her mother said, a glowing aura swept over them, and they disappeared.

Korra landed on the very top of the spirt tree, using air bending to soften her landing. The very top was the center of the spirt vine network, the perfect place to meditate and locate one of her past lives. Normally, it took hours for Korra to focus , she always preferred blasting people with fire than sitting in silence with Tenzin for an hour, but in this case she was more determined for Asami's sake. Korra allowed her spirt to travel the vines which encompassed every corner of the spirit world, letting whatever residual connection she had with her past lives be her compass. Surprisingly it was working, she felt as if a tether was leading her to someone very familiar. She felt the line end somewhere not far off, but something didn't feel right, she was sensing a familiar presence, but it wasn't Aang's.

She followed her instincts anyway, seeking out the presence on the other end of the line. Jumping from tree to tree using air bending was the best way to get around fast, but it was also quite exhausting. Korra found a giant mushrooms which provided a cool shade, and it was just right along the path. She placed her hand on the ground, she could definitely feel the presence of one of her past lives near by.

A flaming arrow zipped past Korra, nearly missing her hair, but landing a perfect hit at the mushroom. It glowed red and grew hotter, eventually ungracefully dodged at the last second, bending the explosion away from herself. She fell hard on the ground, at the heels of the assailant, two ferocious looking wolf-badgers covered in red hot flames. "Is she one of the boss'?" one of them asked.

"Fool!, if she is, why would you try to shoot her?!" The other one growled.

With her lighting fast reflexes, Korra performed a somersault, adding in some air bending powerful enough to push the two away from herself. After gaining some ground, her fists were put up ready for an attack. "I don't know who any of you are, but good spirits never fire explosive arrows at humans" she spoke fiercely.

The flaming badgers slashed their claws, sending a barrage of fire arrows hurtling towards the avatar. Korra dodged each one, bending away the flames from the explosion, and once the attacks backed more sluggish, she started attacking with flames of her own, however they were useless against their fire proof hides. Both beasts lunged at her, but before they could sink their claws into Korra, they were pushed back by a powerful blast of air. The source, a tall domineering woman, holding two fans wearing a face covered with make up. She could've only been one person who Korra recognized immediately; Avatar Kyoshi.

Behind her, were a group of men in armor, but they also had something quite peculiar about them, they had long furry fox tails sticking out from their backsides. "Attack now!" Kyoshi yelled at them. The armored fox tailed soldiers charged at the two fire badgers, with spears, bows and arrows drawn out. However, the fire badgers stood right back up, and engulfed themselves in their flames, the fiery aura expanded. Three soldiers were caught in the blaze, but Korra managed to save the rest.

Kyoshi prepared to earth bend. The others felt the ground shake, a result of her immense power. A large piece of land where the fire badgers stood on was lifted up from where it had originally been placed. "You are not welcome here" she proclaimed. The ground as well as the two creatures were thrown high into the sky, flung away to some other part of the spirit world.

Korra tended to the injured. "Are you okay?" she asked each one of them. Get up!" yelled one of the armored soldiers. "Hey! He's injured, could you cut him some slack?" She retorted. "Avatar Kyoshi told us to never stop on the middle of a war!"

"War? What war?" She asked. Avatar Kyoshi walked in on their heated discussion. "You two!" she called to the soldiers. "Treat your injured comrade, and then regroup with the rest" she ordered. "Yes ma'am" The soldier carried the injured one and moved away from the two avatars.

Korra bowed respectfully to her predecessor, "Avatar Kyoshi, I'm glad to see you"

Avatar Kyoshi replied with yet another stern expression, "I, as well", she said. "I know why you're here, young avatar, however, it will have to wait. I am in the midst of a crisis which I must resolve as soon as possible"

"What is it? I'll help in any way I can" The army started to mobilize.

"Perhaps we should speak in the village" Kyoshi said. "Let's get a move on!" she yelled to the small army.

The walk back to the village was quite short, although there some very odd roadblocks; huge boulders, and a wall of ice. Kyoshi moved them away easily. "I placed those obstacles here to safeguard the village, from those beasts" she explained. "What were those things by the way?" Korra asked.

"Minions of one of the most violent denizens here in the spirit world; Razgar the warlord. He started preying on these innocent villagers long ago, so while you were busy neglecting your duties here in the spirit world, I decided to intervene"

"Neglecting? I was busy stopping a dictatorial maniac who was trying to upset the balance" she defended herself.

"I was referring to your period of isolation" she began to scold her even more, "Avatars have a duty to the world Korra, not just to themselves"

"I doubt I would have even been much help. I-I needed to take to time to recover my strength, surely you'd understand that miss all powerful avatar" she realized it's been a long time since she'd sounded so angry and immature at the same time. It was normal for her to do so to Tenzin or Lin, but she never thought one of her past lives could annoy her so much.

"Even without your full strength, it was imperative that you have had been there to lead the people in times of crisis. So let me ask you young avatar, where were you?"

She lost the initiative to argue, deep inside she knew that what Kyoshi said was the cold hard truth, and all that had happened in the past week had only accomplished to delay the guilt from hitting her like a boulder. She remained silent until the rest of the journey, anyway, it had seemed that Kyoshi was done talking as well.

The party had arrived at the village in a matter of minutes, and as soon as they did most of the soldiers ran to the nearest housing tents and collapsed from the exhaustion of finishing the entire journey in foot, without any steeds or vehicles. Korra was busy staring at the destruction, the fire badgers had caused. A large portion which was located closest to the gates had been horribly consumed by what looked like a blazing firestorm. All that remained were charred remnants of former structures, screen doors, wooden beams. Everything else became a pile of black ash. Once she finished marveling at the destructions, Korra turned to Kyoshi.

"Why would anyone do this?" she asked.

"For centuries, the warlord Razgar had always been a thorn in the side for the Fox Spirits , even during my tenure as avatar. Back then, me and my warriors were able to drive them far away from the villagers, and that lasted for suitable amount of time_" she took a pause, which only seemed to serve no other purpose than to make the explanation more serious and intense, "_until recently, Razgar started an offensive against the villagers, and seeing that the Fox Spirits had not dealt with Razgar for a long time, they were caught off guard"

"What do they want?" Korra asked.

"They want tributes" the voice came from someone else, an elderly fox spirit woman helping a group of soldiers carry one of the injured. "He wants nine young maidens to be delivered to his castle by the end of each week, or else his forces will burn a large portion of the village until were all living in a pile of ash", fear was evident in her tone of voice, fear was present in everyone else actually. She could see it in their expressions. The soldiers who stayed to protect the village, maintained grim expressions which never seemed to waver. Korra also noticed little children cooped up in whatever structures remained, they peaked through the cracks in the barred windows to check every now and then what was going on.

Avatar Kyoshi earthbended the ground and created a platform for herself. She got up to speak, "Warriors!" she cried out for attention. The entire village became immobilized. "The time for preparations have ended, ready your Armors and sharpen your blades. Our scouting party has confirmed that Razgar's forces are ready to mobilize. We must strike fast or risk losing everything. All able bodied fighters gather at the entrance, we shall be moving soon"

Kyoshi's words were more powerful than Korra had anticipated. Everyone obeyed her commands without questions, however, they did not do so in an orderly fashion. Women and children scrambled to find shelter. The soldiers were in a panic trying to get everything in order for battle. It was obvious that none of them were well trained. Which made Kyoshi's actions questionable.

"Hold on a second" she caught up with her past life. "This is your plan? To lead these innocent spirits into battle? You saw how dangerous those things were. This plan will only get them killed."

Kyoshi stood as unflinching as ever. "This village was home to great warriors in the past centuries, warriors that we will need to get past Razgar's impenetrable defenses, and if this battle will bring out these villagers fighting spirit once more, then I see no other alternative"

"Please, I see the look on their faces, they're terrified they don't want to fight"

"Young Avatar, you will learn soon that not all decisions we make are easy, and right now your naïveté will not save this village"

Korra's blood was boiling once more. he had come a long way, and Kyoshi was undermining her once again.

"I have made plenty of hard decisions as avatar, and just because you were once one of the greatest in the world, doesn't mean that you can just accuse me of not being devoted to my cause." She used her anger to fuel her words. She wasn't afraid to stand up to Kyoshi, she has crossed paths with plenty of strong women, and she had always managed to show them how capable she herself was, and Kyoshi was not an exception.

"You let, a madman take away your bending. After that, you lost your connection with the former avatars, and you almost forfeited the light spirit Raava. You still have a lot to learn young avatar, and this will not be a time for any slip ups"

As Kyoshi turned her back on her, Korra's anger translated into something more destructive. No matter how fast her attack, Kyoshi was faster. She opened her fans and blocked the attack effortlessly. "Let me be clear, these spirits are not going into battle" the fire within her was stronger than ever.

Korra shot two more blasts of fire mixed in with a couple of earth bending attacks, but Kyoshi blocked all of them with ease once more. "All that talk and still, this is how you show yourself to me? shameful"

The former Avatar brought out her fans which were far more dangerous tools in her hands. She struck them out with force, and retaliated with a compressed blast of wind which held more power than an air bending master's. Korra blocked with both hands, but the attack was just too overwhelming and knocker her back a couple of feet on the floor. Korra shot more rocks in Kyoshi's direction, but they were easily swept aside by firebending.

It was quite clear who had the upper hand in the duel, but Korra was more than eager to show her determination. Her fists slammed hard into the ground causing a part of the ground to rise up and attack the former avatar from below. It was a successful hit, Kyoshi flew backwards but saved her landing using airbending. However, the momentary distraction was all that Korra had needed to knock her out with a barrage of airbending blasts.

Before Kyoshi could get up, Korra pinned her down. "Listen, I have a plan, and it will work"

Ebony ash rose from the blazing trees. Razgar's forces began to mobilize, sweeping their way through the spirt forests. They're touchdown on the Fox Spirit Village was something that had been awaited all week with fear. Even with the presence of not just one but , two avatars, the spirits were living under a dark cloud of terror.

As the fiery smoke became more visible to the villagers, heralding their arrival, it was about time for Korra's plan to assume. _game on_, she thought

The nine tribute maidens were lined up at the entrance, with fearful soldiers behind them ensuring their safety, at least until they were turned over. Blindfolds were placed on some of them as to provide peace of mind, after all these were innocent girls, sent off to some tyrant. It wasn't the best option, but against an entire army of flaming beasts, this was the only way to reduce casualties.

The fire badgers had arrived, the heat steaming off of them swept through the cheeks of the tributes. They were quivering, trying their hardest to remain calm and not to run away, after all they were volunteers, no one forced any of the women, they were just brave and selfless enough to risk themselves for the sake of the village. The invaders stopped short in front of the tributes. The protocol was that if any of them crossed that boundary, then a battle would be imminent. "We have gave in to your demands, therefore all hostilities must cease" said the village elder.

"Take them and go" growled one of the beasts.

Each of the women climbed on top one of the fire badgers. They turned around and returned to their kingdom. As they swept through the path, the creatures extinguished their flames. Whatever Razgar had wanted with them, it was clear he had intended for them to live. However, one of the fire badgers failed to be more careful, and one of the tributes fell off it's back. Before she could reach the hard pavement, another woman hoisted her back up on her fire badger. "It's okay, I've got you" she said reassuringly. The woman had noticed so thing peculiar, about her savior, she had no tail.

Once they reached the Warlord's domain it was as if the breeze had died in a furnace. Sulfuric smoke arose from the lake of molten lava. The badgers didn't mind, they inhaled the fumes like it were the scent of pine trees, but the fox spirits were starting to get affected badly. As soon as black granite gates opened, the badgers made their way into the tower. More of Razgar's soldiers were filed along the path of brimstone, some were doing their active duty of defending the castle, while others were off doing their own business which was either wading on the lake or going at each other's throats for a piece of food.

They stood at the foot of the doors, not that there were actually doors though. Just a doors shaped hole on a wall with too many holes in it. The only structure that seemed fairly undamaged were the spiral staircases. Leading up to the top of the tower. "You really expect us to walk up those stairs?" one of the tributes said.

"No thank you" said the other.

Both avatars performed an air bending attack in tandem, and blew the soldiers away, knocking them out into the the lake of fire. That move bought them enough time for Kyoshi to protect the fox spirits inside a dome made of earth. She really did look different without her make up, Korra thought, the visible wrinkles made her look more weary, but also human. "This was your plan, let us not waste anymore time shall we"

The two women, lifted themselves up into the air, rocketing straight to the top. They landed ready to strike. "Razgar, the spirit of fury, as protector of the spirt world I declare that you will harm these innocent villagers no more" Right now they were standing in front of the warlord, an enormous Serpent Bear who wore his flames like a cloak. He growled at them both. "Who are you? and what have you done with my tributes" he demanded

Korra spoke up, "those spirits don't belong to you, and were here to put an end to all this"

Using her earthbending, she sent the roof crashing down on the beast. The crushing sound was loud and rang through the entire tower, another attack like that and the whole thing would have collapsed. She didn't attempt it again.

The pile of rubble turned red, and melted into lava. Razgar arose from the lava with a roar that sounded it came from five different beasts. "Where are they!" his fury caused an blazing firestorm around him. Korea and Kyoshi had to back off as the flames were too strong for their firebending to handle. The heat reduced more of the rubble into molten lava. "His rage will destroy this place" said Kyoshi

"Then let's kick him out" replied Korra. It's been a long time since she's played Pro bending, she wondered if she was a s good at it in her last life as well. "Follow after me" she said.

A blast of fire erupted for her fist, stronger than a volcanic blast , even though she knew he was fireproof, that wouldn't stop him from being knocked back a few feet. "Is that the best you can do?" Kyoshi taunted. She struck out her fans and blew him a few more feet closer to the edge of the tower, but he knew what they were trying to do, and shot molten rocks at them. Korra dodged and continued blasting him away. Just like pro bending, she thought. She and Kyoshi continued this pattern of assault, and even though the power of her attacks had twice the juice as her's. Korra's moves were were still more nimble and graceful.

The effects of their plan were bit working so well. All they had achieved was to raise Razgar's rage into new heights. "Raaaaaaarrrrgh!" He bellowed. That was the last sound before the explosion.

Kyoshi managed to shield herself and Korra fast enough with her airbending, reducing any incident of major injuries. However, they were shot straight out of the tower and were about to plunge straight into the lake of fire, up until something hurtled past them like a fireball and landed them somewhere safe. The avatars looked around but found no one or thing that could've possibly saved them.

Overhead, the tower was suffering the aftermath of the explosion. Other than the smoke coming from the top like a chimney, the structure itself had started to crumble and would be nothing more than ash and rubble in a few seconds.

The two avatars, knowing exactly who must be saved from the bing buried alive, ran with such haste, that some would say that they were racing, although with their equal amount of speed, it was hard to tell who was on the lead. They arrived just in the nick of time for Kyoshi to bring down her protective earth dome, although some of it's parts have already broken off due to the collapsing structure. The women, being lead by Kyoshi ran swiftly away from all the destruction. Korra was about to follow in pursuit, until she realized that not everyone was safe.

Unlike her past life, Korra noticed the enormous body of Razgar, knocked out by his own raged fueled explosion. He survived the roof collapsing on him, but she doubted he would survive the whole tower. "Kyoshi!" she called out, "Razgar's still here"

"Stop stalling, let's move!" she demanded

"We can't just leave him here"

"His presence will not be missed here, however you still have a duty to the world. Do not sacrifice that for this tyrant, now get a move on"

Korra realized that they were in the same argument as last time "No, I will not abandon a helpless spirit"

"You are being foolish, how many more enemies must you spare before you realize that the world would be better of without them" Korra realized she may have also been referring to Kuvira.

She didn't listen anymore, she just did something she should've just really done from the start, listen to herself. "Get them to safety" she ordered.

Kyoshi didn't say anything more, and went back to overseeing the fox spirits. "I hope, you know what you're doing"

And she did.

Korra lifted the spirit on top of a large chunk of granite she bended from the floor. It strained every inch of her muscles to maintain the heavy beast and keep walking to the exit. She couldn't make it, but she had to. In a last sense of desperation, Korea used up all her power and threw Razgar far away. She collapsed of exhaustion afterwards. It was the end of the line for her, she felt it, but she knew that she made her last decision without regrets. As her eyes began to close, she saw an orange blaze, and then everything went dark.

Korra awoke with a gasp, she woke up and saw the fox spirits staring at her. "Oh thank Raava, she's alive" said one of the spirits. Korra saw a hand trying to help her up, she took it and saw it belonged to Kyoshi. She was the last person she had wanted to see.

"Look, before you say anything_"

Kyoshi cut her off, "No need, I may not always agree with your decisions, but in the end they are yours to make"

Korra, didnt know what to make of that, but if it was anything but good, she decided to ignore it. "How did I get here?" she was still hazy on the details.

"Thank you avatar Korra" the voice came from behind. Korra turned around and saw the fox spirit girl who fell off from the fire badger's back. Some thing was different with her, she was blazing with fire, from her tail to her hair buns. It was clear she wasn't an ordinary fox spirit.

"What?" Korra said, still in a dazed expression.

"My name is Mai, and this_" she pointed to Razgar who was tied up to a spirt vine, still comatose "_is my father"

Things were starting to make sense, but not entirely.

"Long ago, my father fell in love with one of his prisoners, a young fox spirit, my mother. My father, out of love released her back into the village, and decided to cease all hostilities. However, he was heartbroken, he missed her dearly. Then after he found out my mother had me, he became furious over not being told that I had been born, and that sent him back into his rage. He ordered the nine tributes to be brought to him, in hopes that I would be found" she began to tear up "All those years, I was so scared of meeting him, every year I hid, letting my village take the fall. It was only now, that I found the courage to do the right thing"

Korra approached Mai, "None of this was your fault, don't blame yourself. But what are we supposed to do now"

Mai spoke up, "I will stay with my father, if my mother was able to sooth his rage, maybe there's a chance that I may as well"

"You can't go with him alone, it's too dangerous"

"Rest easy, young one I shall accompany her, she'll be safe with me around" Kyoshi said.

"Thank you Avatar, for saving my father" Mai said.

She untied Razgar from the spirit tree, then accompanied him and a pack of fire badges into parts unknown, now that their tower was destroyed. Before, Kyoshi could follow, Korda caught up with her. "My whole purpose for finding you was to restore our connection with one another"

"You'll be fine without me. I may find you young and inexperienced, but you always seem to turn everything around" that was the first sure complement she heard come out of her mouth. "Now, you still have you duties, and now I have mine. Good bye, Avatar Korra"

She walked into the forest and disappeared from her sight.

_Now to bring everything in order with the village, and then it's time to go back to Asami_, she thought.

She wondered what she was up to right now.


	2. Chapter 2

Asami never cried this much in her entire life. Even when her father died, she only shed a few tears, although that could have been due to the perilous situation they were in at that time. It took a while but she finally stopped to look at her mother one more time. It's been a lifetime, but here she was standing in the flesh (sort of).

She flashed a warm motherly smile, and then wiped her daughter's tears. "It's okay, hush now. Your tears are too precious to waste"

Asami smiled. Her mother was right, this is too happy an occasion to remember all those painful years when they were apart. In fact, Asami had not realized where her mother's spirit had taken her. One of her happiest childhood memories took place in their Amber Island beach house during Republic City's founders day. Every year, on that date the Sato family would drop everything, every business meeting, and every tsungi horn lesson to spend one day as a family. Amber Island was an important pplace to Asami's parents, it was where they met. Asami could remember sitting beside the fireplace near the shore. Her father told her their love story, and she absorbed everything he said intently.

Asami's father Hirsoshi went to Amber island to enter talks into cutting down the island's jungle to build a resort. Asami's mother, Yasuko however would not let another company strip the island of life for money, and being the passionate woman she was, she stood against a multinational corporation to save a bunch of trees. However, her father was still able to mow down a large chunk of the jungle which caused Yasuko to burst in outrage. She told him she would never forgive him, up until her father did something she never expected. Feeling ashamed for what he did, Hiroshi called Yasuko to meet him where the mightiest tree in the jungle stood, and here he showed her a small tree which he had planted, in hopes of rebuilding what was destroyed.

"You're father was not always a good man, but right at that moment he became one" her mother said.

But over time, as the tides of sorrow swept through their family, the happy memories in their beach house were no longer there. and even though it still stands there to this day, it's become nothing but a hollow shell.

But right here, where they were both standing was an exact replica of the house, however it had what the original lost, the warmth, the happy memories, the good times which died the same day Yasuko did, as if she took it with her and stored it here.

"Well, do you want to sit here all day or do you want to come inside for some tea?" she asked.

Asami got up and followed her mom into the kitchen where a hot pot of tea stood on top of the table. Her mother poured her some and she drank it, afterwards she and her mom sat down to talk which took a while, after all they had a lot of catching up to do. She told her everything, from all the Fire Ferret matches she watched, to the time she met Korra and became a member of Team Avatar. That's when she she remembered Korra. "Mom, Korra must be looking for me, she has to know I'm safe. I need to know that she's safe.

"Do not worry my daughter, if anything happened to the avatar, we would know about it, and it will just be a matter of time before she finds you. Just have faith."

Well, with Korra accounted for, there was only one person left to think about.

"Mom" she asked

"Where is dad?"

Korra, searched the entire area, and interviewed every spirit close by, but there was still no sign of her. Korra blamed herself, she should have never left Asami alone, the spirt world was a dangerous place especially for someone who wasn't the avatar. Seeing no other option, she attempted to use the same trick used to locate Avatar Kyoshi.

Once on too the of the spirit vine tree, she connected herself again with the vines, letting her spirit travel the network which ran althroughout the spirit world. It was a strange sensation for her, it's like she could see everything all at once. Millions of eyes each able to focus on one area specifically. Well, not really see, but feel, being able to feel everything, not just by sight or presence, but by the entire body and soul.

However, even while using this technique she was unsuccessful in tracking Asami. Is it possible, that she was out of the spirit world, but that wouldn't have been the case, she could still sense her presence, though only faint sensation. Which means that she is very close to a spirit portal which is why her presence want very strong, because she is too close to the physical world. There are only three spirit portals, so finding her wouldn't be that hard.

The first one she checked was the spirit portal they used to enter in the first place. Korra jumped from tree to tree using her airbending to propel herself, if she had her glider, or any of those new aribender uniforms she would've traveled faster. She regretted not bringing them, even though the trip was a spur of the moment decision and none of them even brought anything but the clothes they were wearing.

Something was wrong, Korra sensed as if there were shadows following her. Then all of a sudden one lunged at her from behind. Quickly, she outmaneuvered the attacker and dodged, but two more flanked her side, and brought her down to the ground. Korra got up and looked the assailants in the eye. They were wearing uniforms Korra thought she'd never see again. They were equalists. "Stop! who are you? she asked" There was no answer. The equalists just raised their electrified gloves, poised for an attack. "Fine, let's stop talking then" Korra blasted fire at the three, which they easily dodged. Korra remembered how annoyingly nimble they were, so she flew up using airbending, brought herself down and caused a massive shock wave using earthbending. The three mystery men got knocked out. Korra came over to one of them and unmasked them. Korra couldn't believe who's face it was.

"Hiroshi?"

Yasuko was dodging the question. At first she pretended not to hear what her daughter had asked. "I'm sorry Asami?" she said while arranging the tea set on the table.

"I asked, where's dad? If you're in the spirit world, shouldn't he be here as well?

Asami sensed that she was forcibly trying not to reveal anything, which made her even more pressed to ask again. "Mom, answer me" she really didn't want to start yelling, but she was afraid of whatever secrets was being held from her, especially if it was about her father.

Yasuko, knew she couldn't keep her silence for long. "Yes, your father did come to the spirit world, shortly after he had passed" she tried not to alarm Asami, but her tone remained grim, as if she were the herald of bad news, which she evidently was. "Well, where is he?" Asami asked. Yasuko dropped her cup of tea on the floor. It's pieces, shattered. It was as if what she was going to says hurt her too much. "He's gone Asami, he couldn't let go of the past, and so he was consumed. His spirit is truly lost to us now" she broke down in tears resting in her daughter's arms. Asami comforted her, feeling ashamed for bringing up something that she wasn't ready to talk about. "I'm sorry, mom"

Yasuko wiped her tears away, and gained back her composure. "No, you deserve to know, and I will tell you everything"

It can't be him, Korra thought. She saw him get crushed by Kuvira's Mecha in Republic City. He died a heroic death. It was obviously a trick of the spirt world, but even she doubted that assumption, after all she did once encounter the spirt of a tea loving former fire nation general who gave helped her get by. So it was possible that Hiroshi Sato made his way into the spirit world as well, but why was he dressed up in an equalist's uniform, and what does he have to do with Asami's disappearance. As much as Korra loves her duties as Avatar, sometimes she just wished the spirit world wasn't so wrapped up in mystery, mysteries which are always a huge pain in the butt to unravel.

Hiroshi lied on the ground, still unconscious. Korra dragged him away from the rest of the equalists who she tied up in spirit vines and left off where they attacked her. She waited for him to wake up in order to start questioning, hopefully he wouldn't be some bumbling lunatic once he came back into his senses. In the meantime she continued trying the spirt vines but she couldn't find any trace of Asami.

Hiroshi started to wake up, Korra stood ready for anything, but as soon as he got up he just gave a blank stare as if he couldn't register anything at all. "Hiroshi? It's me Korra"

There was still no response from him. Maybe he was a trick after all, she thought, but he couldn't risk not getting any information about Asami's whereabouts. "Hiroshi, do you know where Asami is?" she asked.

His face was still dull with expression, and his eyes contained an empty hollowness. "Yes, I know where she is, but she doesn't know where I am. She doesn't care what happens to me, not after what I did", he spoke with a tone filled with regret. Korra felt pity for the hollow shell of a once great man in front of her, before she went back on track. "Where? Where is she?" She questioned.

"Yasuko" he whispered under his breath. "She doesn't want to see me as well, not after the horrors I committed in her name"

Korra remembered the name of Asami's mother from one of her stories, however she didn't speak of it much to her. She always just assumed it pained her too much to talk about it. She was taken from her at a very young age. It made sense, if Hirsohi was here, then there's no reason why her mother couldn't be here as well. It still poses the question however, are they the real deal, or just another dangerous illusion.

Korra decided not to let Hirsohi by himself. "Come on, let's go find your daughter"

"No no, she doesn't want to see me" he protested, however he didn't seem to have the strength to resist so Korra dragged him and carried him across the forest, but before they could get anywhere far, he had a sudden burst of strength. Hiroshi grabbed the arm that held him and flipped Korra over, pinning her to the ground. Korra allowed the confusion to subside before looking back at Hirsohi, only this time , it was no longer the face she recognized which was staring at her, but a different one which belonged to a nightmare in the past. "Amon" she whispered under her breath, as the former adversary looked down at her, as menacing as before.

"We were happy" her tone indicated that it was a memory unable to be recreated. "You know they say that the afterlife is a beautiful place incomparable to any haven in the physical world, and it was. I was at peace, watching over my daughter grow I to such a beautiful and capable woman, then my husband joined me and my joy was amplified a thousand fold, we must have spent days staring into each other's eyes again, it has been over a lifetime" Asami wondered how she could talk about such a happy memory with such a dreary disposition, although it didn't show, she knew she was hurting inside.

"Alas, I knew that he wasn't the same man, this man had chains which weighed him down, everything he did, all the terrible actions done out of anger and revenge, it brought a darkness to him.

"Mom, dad's changed, he died a hero, he's got nothing left to atone for" she protested.

"Yes, that's exactly what I kept telling him, but_" she heaved a sigh. "_he wouldn't listen"

Then her time shifted from sad and sorrowful to ominous. "There is an inhabitant here in the spirit world, a vengeful creature that feeds on negative thoughts and emotions, and your father was ripe with them, and soon the spirit was attracted here, like a moth to a flame"

Asami spoke out, "If that's where dad is, we have to go look for him" she said with fierce determination. She ran straight out the door, grabbing her things along the way. The next step for her was to find Korra, she doubted she could go up against a spirit without the Avatar's help.

Yasuko ran up to her daughter and caught her arm, "Stop" she pleaded. "Your father has succumbed to his own darkness, he is a broken man who could not forgive the one person who needed forgiveness the most; himself"

Asami held her mother reassuringly, it had truly been a long time since they were all together, back then her mother would carry her tiny self in her arms whenever she was upset, and here she was holding her mother in her arms, now a fully grown woman. She wiped her mother's tears away. "Mom, I never believed I could ever forgive dad for what he did. For years, I felt nothing but loathing and hate, but all of that just went away. Everything will be right again, I promise"

She kissed her mother on the forehead and ran off to find Korra. She hoped she had already concluded whatever business she had to attend to, and begged to the spirits that she wasn't in any danger.

"Okay, now I'm mad" the words came out her from gritted teeth. She blasted fire, again and again at the former foe, but he dodged them swiftly with the uncanny acrobatic skills he had always brought to every one of their battles. Then she remembered, the last time she beat Amon was with her newly acquired airbending skills. She created a dome of wind around her and pushed it forward, she'd like to see Amon dodge that.

The attack blew against everything in front of her, except for the enemy. As if everything just passed through him. "Oh, Avatar" he said in his chilling voice, "you really haven't changed at all"

He thrust his hand forward. Immediately, Korra felt her muscles being restrained, her blood constricting her movements. The sensation was all too familiar. Amon began taking steps forward, with his hand outstretched, Korra knew what was to come next. "Not again" she uttered. As she entered the avatar state she felt all the energy free flowing throughout the spirt world , and threw them all back at Amon.

He flew a great distance, crashing into a tree. Korra followed the path to where he landed, ready to finish him once and for all.

"Not just yet, Avatar" he said. Korra saw Hirsohi Sato, kneeling beside Amon, thorny spirit vines wrapped around his arms and legs, restricting his movement, and the thorns looked like they hurt. "One wrong move, and your friend loses another parent , twice"

She hated hostage situations. Why can't they ever fight fair?, she thought.

Korra held up her arms in surrender. The same spirit vines, entangled her limbs, and brought her kneeling in front Amon. Even though she couldn't see it, she sensed the devious grin behind the mask. "So what now? You got me, now what are you going to do?"

Amon gave a dry chuckle, "Really? You thought I was after you? Tell me, who did you foolishly bring into a world she would have never understood completely?"

Korra, suddenly filled with rage, gritted her teeth. "Don't you dare touch her" she screamed at him.

"Oh, It's not me who's going to do such things" At a snap of his fingers, the vines released Hiroshi Sato from their hold.

Asami wandered the spirit forests yet again, in some ways she was beginning to feel like a fairy tale character, all lost in the woods. After a while of walking around a place she had never encountered till recently, looking for people she barely knows where. Asami decided the whole pursuit would be nothing but fruitless.

"What did I think of coming here, I'm way out of my game" she thought to herself.

And then something chillingly familiar happened. The spirt lights went out, leaving nothing but the ominous darkness. Instead of letting herself feel fear again, Asami decided to see where this leads her.

Small wisps of blue flames appeared in a row, forming a trail. "If this wasn't a clear sign that said: this way, then what is?" she thought.

The wisps led her down into a winding path, eventually leading up into a small hill, with a single willow tree. Asami approached with caution, placing her equalist's glove on her hand in case she had to fight off against anything sinister looking. On top of the grim looking hill was a hunched up figure. With all of her senses on high alert, she walked up to him, and quickly with caution pulled off the hood.

Asami felt surprise and relief as she hugged her father. "Oh, dad there you are. What's going on? Where have you been?"

She suddenly became too startled to talk, once he placed both hands on her neck, and squeezed it tightly preventing her from breathing. Asami looked in horror as her father was viciously attacking her. "I'm sorry" her father pleaded with tears dripping down his face.

Feeling the glove still in her grasps, Asami brought it up closer to her father's face. A pulse of electricity seperated her from his grasps, she fell to the ground, meanwhile the electricity did nothing but stun Hiroshi momentarily.

Asami remembered her mother's words, your father has changed, the darkness has changed him. She moved away from him, but was still determined to save him from whatever had it's hold on him. "Dad, please you have to let all this go. Whatever has it's hold on you, you have to let it go, please"

"I believe all your begin won't do much good, Miss Sato" the taunting came from thr shadowy figure of Amon, appearing out of nowhere. "He's already fed me enough negative energies to enforce my hold on him for eternity"

Asami readied herself for a fight, even if she was unsure of any victory. "Who are you?" trying her best to sound fierce.

"My name is Êgan, ages ago, I fed on the negative emotions and energies which plagued humanity. In the physical world I prospered and was very close to bringing about their end. Until, an ancient Avatar trapped me here in the spirit world, cutting me off from my energy supply"

The spirit's voice was so full of negative energy, she was sure it was enough to even break someone as happy as Bo Lin. Nevertheless, she pushed it aside.

"And then this pitiful human came along, with his self consuming guilt and hate, and it brought back the power I thought was long stripped from me. It wasn't enough to give me back my full strength, but it's sufficient to get out of the Spirit World, all I need is a living human vessel"

"If you think I'm bringing you back into our world then your_"

The spirit cut her off. "Oh, not me, but maybe you'd think twice about your father"

Asami gritted her teeth, she knew she could never let this evil loose in the world, but she hated the idea that she was actually considering the offer. Was it selfish? she questioned herself, to bring her father back from what was a cruel death.

"Child, you're always talking about how your father has changed, why not reward him by giving a second chance" He spoke with a serpent's tongue

"I can see all Miss Sato, there has always been that part of you that regrets neglecting your father for so long. "How do you think he ended up like this? Oh, how must he have felt when his beloved daughter never even visited him in prison for all those years. He didn't blame you of course, he blamed himself, and look where that's got him" The mask he wore deformed flashing a devilish grin "but of course we couldn't give him all the credit"

All the things he spoke off wore Asami down hard, he spoke the entire truth and she knew it, but she couldn't let herself fall into the same trap as her father. For the sake of those she loved she had to push aside these thoughts. "Where is Korra?" She demanded.

"Ah, why of course, your asking for more motivation" He pointed up to the branches of the willow tree, up there hung a cocoon made of coiled Spirit vines. She remembered the same thing happening when the Spirit vines attacked the citizens of Republic City, so she very well knew who was inside it, but the question was how to get her out.

"I see your wondering how to get her out, I assure you she's secure as long as you cooperate"

Hiroshi approached her daughter, holding out his hand for her to accept. "I'm sorry dad" was the only thing she could say. She grabbed his arm twisting it, and gave a swift kick pushing him back. Then she bolted for the willow tree, scaling the trunk to get to Korra. We dangled on the branches, ready to use he equalist glove to bust Korra out of her cage, but before she could act. She felt unable to move. Her blood felt twice as heavy, and restricted her entire body from moving even an inch. We knew what this feeling meant.

The dark spirit loved this new power he had acquired, he controlled every inferior being like a puppet master. He sent the insolent girl crashing down from the tree, but halted her mid air, after all she was still needed.

Asami did her best to fight his grip on her, but her efforts were for naught. You want to fight your father so much child? Then fine. The spirit let go of his current form and evaporated into a cloud of dark and vile smoke, consuming Hiroshi Sato.

It took a while for her eyes to adjust and see what was truly happening. Out of the smoke cloud, came forth her father fully equipped in a Mecha suit, the same one he wore when they both fought, another way to twistedly mock them both. Asami felt full mobility again, she guessed he wanted a fair fight this time (sort of).

The Mecha approached her and slammed it's arm, which she narrowly dodged. She couldn't waste a single second, as soon as she got up she ran. But it kept coming after her, and everytime, she narrowly escaped her fate. Until finally, she was tied of running. She stood in front of the willow tree, and as planned the Mecha charged at her like a bull. It surprised her that she still had the energy for a big leap, which landed her on it's arm.

Quick as a rat, she ran across it making her way to where she intended to, the control panel at the back. Every step she took was danger filled, but nothing she wasn't accustomed to up at that point. She broke the cover of the panel, juiced up her glove ready to do some serious damage. But before she could, the Mecha arm grabbed her.

She desperately struggled to slip out, but the grip was to tight. One electrical charge and she was toast. Out of desperation she tried to appeal to her father before it was too late. "Dad! You have to stop this now!"

Her father gruntled, and yelled "I can't, it's too late, there is no going back from what I did"

"Please, can't you see what this is doing? If you think pitying yourself over what you did is gonna make anything better, then you're wrong. If you want a shot at redemption then take the one right in front of you, let go of whatever guilt is being used to take control of you, and help me"

It's not working, she thought. He's still being controlled. Then all of a sudden the landscape changed once again. No longer was it a dreary part of the forest, but now it was a barren jungle landscape, with tree stumps surrounding the area. "Why did you call me here? Haven't you done enough?" She recognized the voice, it was none other her mother's.

But when saw her, she looked much different, younger, like she just came out of an old family painting. "Please, stay" the response came from behind the Mecha. She was again shocked, it was her father, at a much younger age. Asami finally realized where she was, in a memory. She and her real father stopped and watched the scene unfold.

"What reason do I have of doing so?" She looked visibly upset.

"I know I've done a terrible thing. I mean, I always did find this jungle quite beautiful. I was just too much of a coward to go up against them"

"Well, you are" her mother said.

"But I wasn't that much of a coward as you think. I did manage to save one"

He presented her with a small baby tree, not taller than he was, but it had leaves and branches and roots. Then he knelt down before her and took her hand. "Please, I know this isn't much, but I just felt so wrong, so I decided to do something about that. Now, I know this is just a small plant, but one day it will grow into something majestic and beautiful right here in this very spot. I will make sure of that" he stopped to gaze into her eyes. "And one day, I might take whatever family ,maybe a daughter and bring them here to tell her all about this pla_"

She knelt down and kissed him. They both fell silent, holding each other in their arms, still kneeling on the ground as they, together with the memory and landscape faded.

Asami and her father in the mech suit were back in the dreary forest. With her still being in his tight grasps, but he did something she didn't expect. Hirsohi logger up her daughter and launched her at the tree branch where Korra hung in.

"Nooo" hissed the Spirit. But it was too late, as soon as Asami grabbed on to the branch, she blasted the spirt vines way with a 100 volts of pulsing electricity. They opened up, allowing Korra to fall out.

She cushioned her fall with airbending, and got up, ready for a fight.

"Attack her!" demanded the spirit.

But Hiroshi resisted, "No, no longer!" He ripped the Mecha suit away, part by part. The spirit was forced to revert back into Amon."Fools!" He declared "You will all die"

But this time, as soon as he held up his hands, nothing happened. "What!?"

"Aww, look who lost his blood bending" said Korra. "Time to end this"

She entered the avatar state, and manipulated the spirit vines to her will. This time they encased the wicked spirit. "Nooo! Not again!" were his last words uttered before, he got reabsorbed into the willow tree, with nothing but a remnant of the equalist mask sticking out of the wooden bark.

"Are you sure, you're ready?" Korra asked Asami, who was still gazing happily at her reunited parents. She wiped away the tear in her eye, "Yeah, I'm ready. We both know we can't stay here here forever"

Korra smiled, "Still, doesn't mean we can't visit, I mean the spirt world is literally just around the corner"

"Yeah. By the way, you haven't told me what happened to you yet" she told Korra.

"I'll tell you soon, right now let's just get back home"

"Yeah, vacation time's over. Although next time, I do have a nice cabin in Amber Island, in case you want to actually relax"

"That does sound nice"

And so they went, back into the spirit portal, continuing their adventures in the human world.


End file.
